Will the Excuse Empire Return?

By Heather Mac Donald. Ms. Mac Donald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, is the author of "The Burden of Bad Ideas: How Modern Intellectuals Misshape Our Society" (Ivan R. Dee, 2000).

New Yorkers have been nervously scrutinizing Mayor-elect Mike Bloomberg's every action with the intensity of Kremlinologists reading Pravda. Their purpose? To divine Mr. Bloomberg's intentions regarding the legacy of Mayor Rudolph...